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"The subject of this treatise," writes Colqohoun, "is in the highest degree, important and interesting, both to saints and to sinners. To know it experimentally, is to “be wise unto salvation;” and to live habitually under the influence of it, is to be at once holy and happy. To have spiritual and distinct views of it, is the way to be kept from verging towards self-righteousness, on the one hand, and licentiousness, on the other; and to be enabled to assert, the absolute freeness of sovereign grace, and at the same time, the sacred interests of true holiness. Without an experimental knowledge, and an unfeigned faith, of the law and the gospel, a man can neither venerate the authority of the one, nor esteem the grace of the other." This classic is organized as follows: Introduction Chapter I. Of the Law of God in General Chapter II. Of the Law of God as Promulgated to the Israelites From Mount Sinai Chapter III. Of the Properties of the Moral Law Chapter IV. The Rules for Understanding Aright the Ten Commandments Chapter V. Of the Gospel of Christ Chapter VI. Of the Uses of the Gospel, and of the Law in Subservience to the Gospel Chapter VII. Of the Difference Between the Law and the Gospel Chapter VIII. Of the Agreement Between the Law and the Gospel Chapter IX. Of the Establishment of the Law by the Gospel Chapter X. Of the Believer’s Privilege of Being Dead to the Law as a Covenant of Works, With a Highly Important Consequence of It Chapter XI. Of the High Obligations Under Which Believers Lie, to Yield Even Perfect Obedience to the Law as a Rule of Life Chapter XII. Of the Nature, Necessity, and Desert of Good Works To the Reader

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"I am quite convinced that all religions, at bottom, are pretty much alike. On the surface they may seem to differ greatly, but what appears on the surface is not always religion. Go beneath it, and one finds invariably the same sense of helplessness before the cosmic mysteries, and the same pathetic attempt to resolve it by appealing to higher powers."--from Treatise on the Gods H. L. Mencken is perhaps best known for his scathing political satire. But politicians, as far as Mencken was concerned, had no monopoly on self-righteous chest-thumping, deceit, and thievery. He also found religion to be an adversary worthy of his attention and, in Treatise on the Gods, he offers some of his best shots, a choreographed cannonade. Mencken examines religion everywhere, from India to Peru, from the myths of Egypt to the traditional beliefs of America's Bible Belt. He compares Incas and Greeks, examines doctrines, dogmas, sacred texts, heresies, and ceremonies. He ranges far and wide, but returns at last to the subject that most provokes him: Christianity. He reviews the history of the Church and its founders. "It is Tertullian who is credited with the motto, Credo, quia absurdum est: I believe because it is incredible. Needless to say, he began life as a lawyer." Mencken is no less interested in the dissidents: "The Reformers were men of courage, but not many of them were intelligent." Against the old-time religion of fellow countrymen, Mencken posed as a figure of old-time skepticism, and he reaped the whirlwind. Controversial even before it was published in 1930, Treatise on the Gods remains what its author wished it to be: the plain, clear challenge of honest doubt.

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Gathered here are letters of spiritual direction written by Francis (1567-1622) and Jane (1572-1641) that reveal the richness of Salesian spirituality. The letters show the daily attempts of laity, clergy, cloistered religious and others to live in the authentic spirit of Jesus.

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The most solemn, majestic, and beautiful gifts that Jesus Christ gave to the world are His sacraments. He endowed them with unprecedented and unparalleled power—power to change lives, save souls, and share God’s very life. The sacraments are the ordinary means by which God directs the course of each human life and all of world history. The Church celebrates seven sacraments: baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, matrimony, holy orders, confession, and anointing of the sick. Each was established by Jesus for the sake of salvation. When Jesus spoke of the sacraments, He made clear that they were essential: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (Jn 3:5) . . . unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you (Jn 6: 53). In Swear to God, Dr. Scott Hahn explores the richness of Christ’s sacraments—their doctrine, history, symbols, and rituals. Drawing upon the Bible and the Church’s tradition, he shows how God’s covenants—with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—became the driving forces in history. When Jesus came to fulfill all these covenants, He established a new covenant, with greater power than ever before. Christians are God’s children now. Joined to Christ by baptism, we can already share in the eternal life of the Trinity, a life we hope to know fully in heaven. But heaven is with us, even now, in the sacraments.

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A personal retreat based on St. Therese of Lisieux. A wondrous distillation of the teachings of St. Th r se of Lisieux on God's love and on confidence in Him; on humility, peace, and charity; on the Cross; and on abandonment to Providence. Learn to rest in God amid troubles, living joyfully with Him always.

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Once we have encountered the Lord Jesus, how do we keep growing in Christ? How do we let the Lord mold us and make us into missionary disciples capable of spreading the gospel? Instead of just trying to get into heaven, how do we live the life of heaven now so that we can become saints? In this book, Michigan pastor Fr. John Riccardo helps us dive into the Scriptures so that we can apply them to our daily lives. In his inspiring and incisive way, Fr. Riccardo addresses the obstacles we all face in becoming mature disciples. How do we learn to forgive? How do we combat fear and understand suffering? How do we worship the Lord, love others as Christ loves us, and fully surrender our lives to God? If you've enjoyed Fr. Riccardo's gifts of teaching and preaching through his broadcasts and podcasts, this book is for you!

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We live in a day and age characterized by an extraordinary amount of agitation and lack of peace. This tendency manifests itself in our spiritual as well as our secular life. In our search for God and holiness, in our service to our neighbor, a kind of restlessness and anxiety take the place of the confidence and peace which ought to be ours. What must we do to overcome the moments of fear and distress which assail us all too often in our lives? How can we learn to place all our confidence in God and abandon ourselves into his loving care? This is what is taught in this simple, yet profound little treatise on peace of heart. Taking concrete examples from our everyday life, the author invites us to respond in a Gospel fashion to the upsetting situations we must all confront. Since peace of heart is a pure gift of God, it is something we should seek, pursue and ask him for without cease. This book is here to help us in that pursuit.

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The Kingdom of God Is Within You is the non-fiction magnum opus of Leo Tolstoy. The book was first published in Germany in after being banned in his home country of Russia. It is the culmination of thirty years of Tolstoy's Christian anarchist thinking, and lays out a new organization for society based on a literal Christian interpretation. The title of the book is taken from Luke 17:21. In the book Tolstoy speaks of the principle of non-violent resistance when confronted by violence, as taught by Jesus Christ. When Christ says to turn the other cheek, Tolstoy asserts that Christ means to abolish violence, even the defensive kind, and to give up revenge. Tolstoy rejects the interpretation of Roman and medieval scholars who attempted to limit its scope. "How can you kill people, when it is written in God’s commandment: ‘Thou shalt not murder’?” Tolstoy took the viewpoint that all governments who waged war are an affront to Christian principles. As the Russian Orthodox Church was—at the time—an organization merged with the Russian state and fully supporting state's policy, Tolstoy sought to separate its teachings from what he believed to be the true gospel of Christ, specifically the Sermon on the Mount. Tolstoy advocated non-violence as a solution to nationalist woes and as a means for seeing the hypocrisy of the church. In reading Jesus' words in the Gospels, Tolstoy notes that the modern church is a heretical creation: "Nowhere nor in anything, except in the assertion of the Church, can we find that God or Christ founded anything like what churchmen understand by the Church.”

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A thought-provoking work that offers a commentary on the love and kindness of God as well as His fairness and anger. Lactantius dwells on these seemingly conflicting ideas and beautifully expresses that God is compassionate yet impartial in meting out justice. Profound!

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A repackaged edition of the revered author's classic work that examines the four types of human love: affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God—part of the C. S. Lewis Signature Classics series. C.S. Lewis—the great British writer, scholar, lay theologian, broadcaster, Christian apologist, and bestselling author of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, The Chronicles of Narnia, and many other beloved classics—contemplates the essence of love and how it works in our daily lives in one of his most famous works of nonfiction. Lewis examines four varieties of human love: affection, the most basic form; friendship, the rarest and perhaps most insightful; Eros, passionate love; charity, the greatest and least selfish. Throughout this compassionate and reasoned study, he encourages readers to open themselves to all forms of love—the key to understanding that brings us closer to God.